When it comes to the World Cup, everything is fair game when you’re looking for an advantage.

Over the weekend some of football’s biggest names came unstuck, and the likes of Neymar and Lionel Messi had forgettable first outings.

They’re amongst the most recognisable players in the world, but the same cannot be said for the South Korean team. That’s something coach Shin Tae-yong has been using to his advantage, especially in the World Cup warm-up matches.

NewsAU below:

[He] said he deliberately made his team wear different numbered shirts in recent friendlies to confuse World Cup opponents who cannot tell his players apart.

He said all but star player Son Heung-min and captain Ki Sung-yueng were given different shirts in games against Bolivia and Senegal in Austria earlier this month to outwit anyone checking up on his team.

The astonishing claim came just 24 hours before his side open their World Cup campaign against Sweden…

“All of the others played in numbers a little bit confusing, that’s why we switched the numbers,” Shin Tae-yong [above] said.

“It’s very difficult for Westerners to distinguish between Asians, that’s why we did that.”

That’s not going to smash any stereotypes ahead of their first match.

If you thought the rather innocuous South Korea and Sweden match doesn’t seem all that spicy, there’s also the small matter of spying accusations:

In his press conference, Swedish coach Janne Andersson [below] was forced to apologise after it was claimed one of his scouts had been caught spying on the Koreans at a closed training session in Austria…

The row centres on Swedish scout Lasse Jacobsson who reportedly covertly watching the Koreans prepare for the World Cup.

Jacobsson had apparently rented a house in the town of Leogang, near Salzburg to ‘spy’ on Sweden’s first opponents.

“He heard about a practice session, he didn’t understand that it was a closed session, he didn’t understand and he watched from a distance,” said Andersson, attempting to downplay the incident.

No word on whether he could tell them apart, though.

All of this adds a little intrigue to today’s opening game, kicking off at 2PM, because most football fans would have been biding their time until the Belgium and England matches.

As English fans are prone to do, they’ve been preparing for tonight’s encounter by drinking lots of beer and singing songs:

Come on England! #Worldcup2018Russia pic.twitter.com/eWeIvBxRlx

— Will Shearer (@willshearer9) June 16, 2018

Oh, and if you’re wondering why Mexico beat Germany, you can thank granny:

I’m 100% convinced my grandma was the reason Mexico won pic.twitter.com/9jBRF5wFPE

— paola (@paolaa_janet) June 17, 2018

[source:newsau]